21 August 05 update:

Just like its older brother the Talon, this upgraded version just loves to be in the field. The daytime color pictures are a bit washed out but very clear. Pictures of a passing blue and white Chevrolet pickup with a gold license plate was very readable with enough color and clarity it could be used as evidence. The night black and white pictures are excellent. We are continually amazed as to the reach of the IR flash and the clarity it produces. A small piece of foam glued across the panel under the keypad would be a really good upgrade. The purpose for this would be to apply slight pressure to the batteries in the area where the upper and lower batteries come to together. They seem to want to pop up sometimes out of alignment. Future tests will include lots of movie mode testing. I can say that this also is on of my favorites list.

February 9, 2006 update:
 

Talon Extreme 5.0 Review  08/30/2007

Years back I had a fine old 22 that I use to pack everywhere that I went. It had a look and feel that just seemed to fit what I liked. Many years later this same company came out with a re production of that same rifle, When I put my hands on this gun it had that familiar feel that I had remembered. Well, the old brown truck showed up out front and brought me a box with a surprise in it. When I opened it up I started to get that old familiar feel that I had experienced with that old gun. This was Recons new 5.0 camera which is new for this year. I definitely had the feel and look of some dear old friends that we still have deployed on our properties. We use to pick cameras in cost category as to which one we liked best. In this price range and the fact that it was the only IR camera out that performed it was always our first choice. Both of this cameras predecessors are still with us and doing well without problems. We recently had a poll that pinned a number of cameras pictures against each other and the old Recon Extreme came in 2^nd against cameras that cost a whole bunch more. This camera has a list price of about $480 and once you put your hands on it you can begin to see why there is this cost. It is very solidly constructed, very water tight, circuit boards are not that little thin stuff that many folks are use to seeing in some cams. This thing is built solid. They still have an issue with the battery holders but once you are able to get them installed they will stay in place. I spent some time going over all the old data that I had collected over the last couple years about the Recon cams and found very little negative things. We expect a trigger time in the 3 second range, judging from the unofficial in house testing.

The flash range and all should be about the same as all previous reviews. I will do this in the morning so that we can get this to the trigger time table and then off to the field. We have a couple of the lock boxes for this cam and it is advised that this be purchased also for those folks that have an issue with security. This cam does have an internal memory but it is small and will only record 25 images. The use a CF card up to 1 gig is recommended. Rez settings can be selected between 1.3 and 5.0 both movie and still. One great feature is being able to adjust the PIR sensitivity through the menu. To make sure we are exactly on target we hit the laser control button and perform the cams aim. Now wait a minuet, this is another one of these cam in the door types. Here is how it goes, turn the laser on and close the door, now make the adjustment then open the door and arm the cam and start to close the door “oops that heavy battery laden cam just moved the cam over on its side before I could get the door closed. It just seems that no matter how tight I make the strap this thing wants to move. Stealth cam You do not have the market lock on this feature because your cams do the same thing to. It feels like I am taking an old friend back to the woods with me, lets hope that it stands up to its older brothers images.

08-31-2007 update:  As with many old friends that you have not seen for a while, you have a tendency to ask a few questions as to how have you been. Well in this case I started asking questions and in some cases it was not the answer I was looking for but that was only dealing with a minor issue of the battery holder. Our very first Recon cam had an issue with this and we ended up installing a closed cell foam block behind the battery holder and this seemed to solve the problem. We then added a small piece of foam (loose) across the intersection of the batteries just to hold them down when the door was closed. The company took note of this and came out with a plastic block behind the battery holder ends. With this new cam I see that they have re engineered their case so that there is small plastic brackets which are behind the battery holder ends that take the place of the plastic blocks previously used. The orange card that came inside the cam has a diagram of the proper way to install the batteries. I followed these instructions and had no problem getting the batteries installed. The problem came when I took the cam out for the flash range tests and in the process on moving the cam around and laying it down during the set up two things happened. Number one my dog, with her big nose knocked the cam off into my fish pond. Well it floats and is water tight, but when I opened it up to see how much water was on the inside I could not find a drop but the center two batteries had popped up in the center and had to be reset. So much for the holder, (which by the way did not fail during the rest of the test). Now for the rest of the questions that I decided to ask this old friend. I wanted to know about flash range and the answer was way past 40 feet. I also needed to know if its sensor was worth a hoot. I seems like for this 74 degree morning the answer was past 45 feet every time. It appears that this old friend is in very good health and has my OK to move to the trigger time table with hopes that it will be in that less than 3 second category. I find this camera to be first class and because of the known history of its predecessors and the great company support I would absolutely have no problem recommending this camera to anyone. The programming is easy and the documentation lacks a camera specification sheet that is of interest to lots of folks. Otherwise the pamphlet is well written and easy to follow. I guess I have been spoiled because I know these cams so well and they are definitely on my favorite list. After the trigger times we will get some high rez and low rez sample pictures and High and Low rez movies plus do a battery life test.

 

09-02-2007 update:  The trigger time tests became a real ordeal because we discovered that the 1 minute delay setting was more like 1.5 minutes. Having to wait on the clock to go around to the 12 to trigger the cam then having to wait a couple of minutes for the next time we could trigger the came turned into a full morning of testing just on one cam. We were doing the same test on the Spy Point cam which was over in about 10 minutes. This was due to its 10 second delay period. After a fashion and 20 plus attempts we concluded that the trigger time on this cam was just under 4 seconds most of the time with and without flash. This is about the same as the Prowler from Stealth. Some folks thought that this was pretty bad and commented on it on our forum. We hung the old Prowler up on the hill and that sucker just flat out performed. I have no doubt that this cam will do the same. It was picking me up at 45+ feet every time on a warm morning. Having any lack of function just has not been the case with any of the Recon cameras that we have tested. They have always been top performers. We expect the same from this cam.

 

09-06-2007 update:  We have had this cam in the field and have gone through the high rez pictures and the high movie mode, the results were a little mixed. The day color is identical to the previous Extreme we tested. The color is weak but very sharp and clear. The night pictures do have a lot of black and the whites are actually white. This is a good indication. The cameras that have various shades of gray tend to have much less contrast. This cam was placed in the same area but not side by side so a complete comparison could not be made, but this cam took many more pictures than the other cam. We were under the understanding that this cam could be set to take either high rez and also be set to take low rez pictures. Once we had completed the tests on the other rez settings we discovered that we could not find a way to select the low setting for stills. A quick look at the book shows that only the movie mode has both settings not the still. The movie mode is done in Apple QuickTime and is of a very low frame rate, we would almost say it is more like a fast burst mode rather than movie. So far this cam has been a great performer and the only down thing discovered is not being able to use this cam on a lower rez setting.

 

10-20-2007 update:  During this review we had some conversations with the company about the trigger time and we made reference to the PIR sensor lens. I packed it up and gave it a ride with the UPS guys back to have the guru of everything at Recon do a look over of the trigger circuit. As with the previous cam we tested we see that the night with flash is in the high three and low 4 second time frame and the daytime in daylight seems to be in the 2.5 second area. This cam came back with a new PIR sensor lens that has  multi zones. This is much like what Moultrie did with theirs. We see that some of the new cans like Predator that hit the market recently have the old style lens that caused Cudde all the problems. This multi zone lens allows the camera to have very good peripheral site to see what is coming in and has the camera ready to take the picture at the right time. Having a little slower trigger and being able to see the animal is probably as effective as a super fast trigger and sorry PIR vision. These folks build a super first class camera and the way it works should not leave anyone wanting. The full 5.0 rating gives very good pictures, with weak day color when placed in low light areas. The night pictures are some of the best of any camera out there right now.

03-16-2008 update:  This is the closure of this review. As with all its predecessors this camera still remains one of our favorites. We have basically punished this cam to the limit and it just stays out there and delivers. We are now waiting on the 08 cams to start a new year.

 

Trigger Time is 4 seconds (with and without flash)

Flash Tests

Sample Photos

Movie High (Note: these are in Apple Quick time format)

Movie Low

 

Recon Scout PMD 1000 - Perimeter Monitoring Device review 4-18-2008

To make this new system fit into the game camera family of products might take a bit of a stretch to do but let me try. You have spent the summer into fall carefully placing your trail cameras around your hunting property and have gained a mental picture of animal routes and possible stand placement. These areas are in most cases thick and have limited visibility for any great distances. When these wary old critters come a sneaking through the brush on their well worn trails, it would be nice to know from what direction and which path the critter is using. Recon has come up with an early warning system that will give you that advantage. It is a set of 4 separate sensors that have been mated to a wearable reciever. The sensors are a tiny 2 ½ by 4 inch camouflaged box that has a PIR sensor in the front. These can be placed on these routes to a distance of up to 100 yards depending on the degree of forest cover. They are wireless and the battery life is advertised as being up to 2 years which would allow them to be placed in the field way ahead of opening day. The water tightness of the sensors is good but I would probably incorporate some type of a weather shield like a small metal roof. This would keep the rain off the sensor if it was placed in the field for an extended period of time. The receiver is a small 3 by 4 inch square that is curved to fit on the wrist with a Velcro strap. There is a small LCD screen and two buttons on the front. When motion is detected the receiver has a vibrator in it and there is a LED back light that flashes. The LCD screen then will display the sensor number that was triggered. You can also enable an audible sound if desired. When the you have been warned that there is something detected you then must remember which distant sensor is associated with the alarm and them search the brush in that direction for that movement causing the alarm. The batteries in the receiver are AAA type and will last up to 40 hours. My in shop tests with a thick sweater on my arm made the vibrations hard to feel. Being that most of my hunting is in the sitting position I moved the receiver to the top side of my leg just above my knee and this worked well for me but the provided strap was not long enough. Most young folks would probably not have these problems. We have covered a typical hunting situation but this device can be used for many other type of applications. Years back on a trip to Canada I had traveled all day and on toward evening I stopped and set up camp. We had our supper and cleaned things up then settled into the tent for some rest. Sometime during the night we had a small snow fall and in the morning while I was stoking up the campfire I noticed some very large bear tracks a few feet from the tent. We evidently smelled bad enough that the bear decided we were not food. This device could be set up to monitor any perimeter you need to watch in order to give the user a degree of early warning. Had I set up one of these devices we could have moved to the truck for a degree of safety. Many situations around the home where prowlers or animals are sneaking around could be announced. There is a multitude of business applications where this device could also be used.

The device comes with four sensors and there is an option to add two more if desired for a total of six sensing zones. These optional sensors can be purchased from Recon. The channel or position 6 is used to turn the beeper on and off by pressing the light button twice. This can be disabled the same way when the beep is not wanted. I took a short piece of ¾ inch by 1/8^th inch flat bar and made a small security bracket for those who wish to leave their sensors deployed when unattended. See the side bar for the pictures. I was not very careful when I used my metal break so I ended up with one of the ears a little long but the purpose is to give the users a general idea how to secure these tiny pieces of gold while left in the field unattended. The python cable can act as the strap and adjustments can be made by placing a small stick behind the sensor. The suggested price is $ 349.00 for the whole unit with 4 sensors so the sensors would definitely have a value worth protecting. I am going to work on the sensing range and the transmitting distances.

So far I have managed to eat up a good part of the day playing with this system and the temperature has made it up to about 57 degrees in the shade and the PIR sensor would still catch me at 45 feet which is very good. The transmitting range was tested in the wide open with no obstructions and I hit a fence at 160 yards and the receiver was still receiving. In the thick forest this range would quickly go down but in most cases I would think that 75 plus yards could be expected. When I go south this weekend to our other testing area I will try to measure the approximate distance through heavy cover. If I were to be elevated in a stand the range should also be increased.